Giants' Canty says this injury not like last season

Chris Canty knows what you are thinking. And the answer is no.

After a 2009 season marred by frustrating injuries that would not go away, nagging muscle issues that seemed minor but wound up taking weeks to heal, Canty is again on the injury list. He had to stop practicing Tuesday and sat out of yesterday's workout. This time it's the groin that's bugging him.

Here we go again, right?

"It's a different kind of thing," Canty said of this injury, which happened during practice and was not, like his previous maladies, a non-contact injury. "Am I worried about it like the calf and the hamstring last year? No."

The Giants sent Canty for an MRI on his groin. Tom Coughlin said the tests "did not show anything of great significance and hopefully he'll come along fast."

Canty wouldn't give a timetable for his return, but said after speaking with the team's medical staff, "Everyone seems to be very optimistic about it."

The Giants are also optimistic about Canty because he has had one of the more impressive preseasons on the team. After an offseason in which he dedicated himself to getting healthier and stronger, Canty was able to be a dominating force at defensive tackle when the team was in Albany.

Then, on Saturday against the Steelers, he was in the middle of several plays. He was rushing the quarterback, drawing holding penalties, and perhaps most eye-raising was his diving stop of Rashard Mendenhall on the first defensive series.

On that play he was rushing up the field to his right and then dove back to his left, leaving the ground and tripping up the Steelers' running back. It's a play that even Canty said he would have been unable to pull off last year.

"There were some injuries last year that hindered my performance," Canty said in understatement. "Now, physically, I'm able to do things that I wasn't able to do, even before the injuries last year. So I'm definitely excited about that."

His ability to stay on the field - until these last two days at least - also has led to a good chemistry with fellow defensive tackle Barry Cofield.

"Chris was banged up a lot so we didn't get that comfort level that you get when you can play off of somebody," Cofield said. "I can kind of feel if he's crossing my face, he can feel if I'm slanting and he can cover up for me. The more you play together the more you get in sync with each other, the more productive you can be."

Even with all of that excitement and optimism and a healthy training camp, it just takes this one groin injury to have people remember last year when Canty was on the shelf for a good portion of the year and never found his legs in his first season with the Giants. It sounds like this groin issue won't be as detrimental as the 2009 injuries were, but it's still an impediment.

"It's just kind of interrupting opportunity to continue to progress," Canty said. "We're trying to put this behind us as quickly as possible because I'm just excited about where my game is going. I'm excited about the direction this defense and team is going."